Anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins are associated with a number of diseases. There is therefore an existing need in the therapeutic arts for compounds which inhibit the activity of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins.
Overexpression of Bcl-2 proteins correlates with resistance to chemotherapy, clinical outcome, disease progression, overall prognosis or a combination thereof in various cancers and disorders of the immune system.
Involvement of Bcl-2 proteins in bladder cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, bone marrow cancer, cervical cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, hepatocellular cancer, lymphoblastic leukemia, follicular lymphoma, lymphoid malignancies of T-cell or B-cell origin, melanoma, myelogenous leukemia, myeloma, oral cancer, ovarian cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer, spleen cancer, and the like is described in commonly-owned PCT US 2004/36770, published as WO 2005/049593, and PCT US 2004/037911, published as WO 2005/049594.
Involvement of Bcl-2 proteins in immune and autoimmune diseases is described in Current Allergy and Asthma Reports 2003, 3, 378-384; British Journal of Haematology 2000, 110(3), 584-90; Blood 2000, 95(4), 1283-92; and New England Journal of Medicine 2004, 351(14), 1409-1418. Involvement of Bcl-2 proteins in arthritis is disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/988,479. Involvement of Bcl-2 proteins in bone marrow transplant rejection is disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/941,196.